Asad Umar to meet World Bank and IMF officials on Tuesday

Finance Minister Asad Umar is scheduled to attend the annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Indonesia on October 9, Tuesday.

Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, State Bank Governor Tariq Bajwa, and other officials will accompany him. The two sides will discuss Pakistan’s economic situation and the conditions of the loan.

Earlier this month, an IMF mission led by Harald Finger visited Pakistan. They met Asad Umar and his team, and shared its initial assessment of the economy.

The mission, in its evaluation, highlighted imminent challenges facing Pakistan’s economy including fiscal deficit, current account deficit, low level of reserves, accumulation of losses in public sector enterprises, non-execution of structural reforms, weakening of institutions and lack of domestic resource mobilisation, according to the ministry spokesperson.

The IMF team was of the view that action needs to be taken to correct the imbalances in the economy, and put it on a path of sustainable growth.